Crossfit Chantilly

Now that Ragnar is completely done, I can start to refocus on my fitness goals.  After the half marathon, I basically gave up on all training, and trying to eat right seemed so pointless if I wasn't Crossfitting.  The answer was very clear to me.  

I need to rejoin Crossfit and be a part of the Crossfit community again.

No offense to Capital Crossfit, but I wanted to check out another local box get a feel for those their box was run.  So this morning, at 5am, my alarm went off and 10 minutes later I was off to explore Crossfit Chantilly on my own. 

The location is not more that 10 minutes from my house and there for, not more than 10 minutes from my work.  I figured out that with my 2nd job, my child and husband, the ONLY time I'd ever be able to Crossfit on the weekdays is at 6am.  Which I guess I'm ok with....just makes for a loooong day overall. 

At first I was apprehensive about the box, it's in a shopping plaza with other business, and traditionally I've been to Crossfit's in storage facilities and more "rough around the edges" locations.  However, once I walked through the doors, I was suddenly flooded with a great, great feeling. 

I felt like I walked right back into Crossfit610. 

I was the only person so far (I came early to fill out any paperwork) and the Trainer mentioned that because of the school delay, the 6am class would probably be very small.  Gotta love small favors!

We started off with a pretty intense "warm up" (which reminded me of doing all the endurance work at 610) and then it was time for the WOD.

Grace

Ok, somebody was just looking out for me at this point.  Grace is one of my favorite WODs because it is simply Clean & Jerks.  After the 5 minute-ish workout, we did some strength and then core work.  

I couldn't believe how happy I was to be sitting in my own sweat once again.  

I was able to shower at their facility and get to work with 15 minutes to spare, a luxury some boxes weren't always able to provide.  

I was on my exercise high until about 11:30am and then I started to feel my body respond to what I had done to it hours early and that's when I knew that after only 1 WOD there, I am 90% sure this will become my home box and I can't wait to go back tomorrow. 

Warm Up:

2 Minutes of Jump Rope

2 Rounds:

30 DU

20 Good Mornings

20 Front Squats

10 KB Swings

10 Ring Rows

5 Knees to Feet

Mobility:

Rack Stretch

WOD:

Grace

30 Clean and Jerks for Time

4:14 @ 55lbs

Core:

3 x 8 Straight Leg Deal Lift (85lbs)

4 x 75 Seconds Plank Holds

Crossfit Bone Island

Despite the fact that just a day or so earlier myself and 11 other people just ran a combined distance of 200 miles, we were more that enthusiastic to visit the Southern Most Continental USA Crossfit Box, Crossfit Bone Island / Key West. 

We WALKED about 2 miles in the heat to get to this box which was a fantastic warm up for the WOD:

17 Minute AMRAP

20 Parrell Jumps

10 T2B

5 Burpees

I was secretly happy that I could handle this WOD (I had been many moons since I have WODed) without too much difficulty.  

17 Minutes is probably my favorite length of an AMRAP, not too long, not too short.  Don't be fooled by my shirt in the picture, I am completely drenched in sweat.  

It was really awesome visiting this box, the people were great, and some nice crossfiter drove us home instead of making us walk all the way back to our hotel.  (We even rescued a lost dog on our way home!). 

Post Ragnar Running and Crossfit WODing....we spent the rest of our vacation days enjoying bars, sunsets, beaches, roosters and each other.  :)

I Thought You Said Rum

The one thing I very much love about my life, is that I continue to do things that surprise myself.  That was the exact thought that was running (pun) through my head the night before me and 11 other people were about to embark in an adventure that will certainly never be forgotten. 

The Ragnar Relay Race is a 200 mile run from Miami to Key West.  12 person team, 2 vans, and memories to last a lifetime.  

I originally was asked to be on a friend's team, but then wound up being the caption of my own team, and since I love planning, it literally became a part time job.  The logistics of forming a team was nothing short of a nightmare, but all the hard work was finally paying off.  We were a mixed bag of people with different backgrounds.  Crossfitters, Runners, Runners in Training, Friends, Friends of Friends, and lots of people I had only met via Facebook months before.  

Thursday morning Dennis and I were air bound on our first NON PARENT vacation in 15 months!

We arrived in Miami first thing Thursday morning so we had the entire day to catch up on some sleep, enjoy the nice weather, prepare for the Race, and of course have an adult beverage (or a pitcher of Sangria).  

As the day went on, more and more of our team members arrived in Miami.  We all headed over to the Ragnar packet pick up, which was pretty cool.  There was a stage with music, food trucks, vendors, and of course the race briefing.  We all called it a night and the next morning starting at 6:30am Runner #1 would be starting our run.  Dennis and I got this amazing picture of Miami at night.

Dennis and I were in Van #2 and didn't have to meet up with Van #1 until all 6 people in Van #1 were done running.  These spots were called exchanges, and the exchanges that involved both vans were basically big parties.  And also that we were slacking in our Van Decorations:

This Van Had Lights COVERING IT and looked amazing at night.

Even though it was make shift, we added some Jazz to our Vans:

Now that that was taken care of, Van #2 was ready to start!!

Van #2 Runners: Laurin, Brandi, Joanne, Me, Dennis, Michelle

At this exchange, Van #1's last runner, would put a slap bracelet onto Van #2's first runner, and that would start Van #2's running legs.  

Lynne to Brandi

Brandi to Karen

Karen to Laurin

Laurin to Joanne

Joanne to Dennis

Dennis to Michelle (not shown)

And then finally Michelle to Courtney, ending the 1st of 3 Legs for each Van and starting Leg 2 for Van #2.

Nice Shadow Photo Bomb!

Van #1 rand between the hours of 6:30am and 10:30 while our van ran between the hours of 10:30am through 6:00pm on Friday, getting the brunt of the Miami heat.  (Dennis and Michelle in particular). 

While Van #1's Runners were running, we drove down to the next major exchange to attempt to get some sleep, but instead we ate more free donuts, attempted to sleep, had dance parties and were slap happy:

With everybody's failed attempt to get any sleep, Van #1 was approaching the next major exchange and Van #2 preparing to start their next running section.  Ragnar's saftey rules state that any runner running between 4:30pm and 7:30am, they must wear vests, head lamps, and tail lights.  Obviously we looked awesome in this gear.

Van #1 came into the exchange at about 3:00am and with that we started our 2nd leg of the race.

We weren't able to get a picture of Joanne to Dennis and Dennis to Michelle because they were virtual exchanges.  But finishing up our 2nd Leg, we have Michelle handing off the Courtney, giving Van #2 a much needed break!

Court looks so happy because this is the last time she has to run in the race!


So here we were, with Van #1 running their last Legs and Van #2 miles away from their last runs.  We were so tired!

But at last....it was our time to run our final leg and we took so much pleasure in checking off our last boxes:

And at about 7pm on Saturday night, team "I THOUGHT YOU SAID RUM" crossed the finish line after about 36 hours of running.